I really enjoyed the visit to The Partnership for 21st Century Skills web site. It was interesting and exciting. However, there was a ton of information that took a while to look through. It is my hope that the great ideas to incorporate the 21st Century Skills into the schools go through as planned. As America falls further and further behind other countries, it is time that our government takes steps to improve what our students are learning and how they are learning it.
There was some information on the site that surprised me. For example, I did not know that “A Nation at Risk also called for computer programming to be included as a ‘new basic’” (Partnership for 21st Century Skills, p. 8). Although it is slightly incorporated into our state standards, it is definitely not included as a basic in our students’ education. Another surprise was that the Terra Nova was listed as one of the test that will be used to assess critical thinking skills. Our district was required to administer the Terra Nova test as part of a grant we received. No one felt that the data we gained from this test was valid for any reason. Now that the grant is over, we will no longer use the Terra Nova, but will use a test that has more usable data for us. One last surprise is that the state will continue to generate standards in order for the teachers to create assessments to measure these standards. The people creating the assessments should be the ones with input into the standards. We are in the trenches with our students every day. We have a good idea about what they should know. The panel of decision makers should definitely include educators since we, ultimately, have to live closely with them.
I disagree with the idea that only certain states were chosen to participate. If our government is involved with this effort, which they are according to the documentation, it should be for all states and all students. I also disagree that “results from large-scale summative assessments, along with other measures of achievement, are regularly used to determine whether students can advance to the next grade, and to judge the quality of schools and the educators who work in them” (http://www.21stcenturyskills.org). I believe student scores on tests are not the only indicator of readiness to progress to the next level. What about formative assessments? How about the students who do not test well, but demonstrate mastery of content? Also, it is not fair for teachers and schools to be judged by student performance on these tests. The population of students I work with are below grade level. The students are low income and high risk. How can my school or my district be compared to a high performing wealthy district? We are enrolling more and more ELL students and our IEP population is growing. The teachers in my school are some of the best I have ever seen. They are making gains, but not in comparison to other districts. Does the Partnership for 21st Century Skills recognize this?
The implications for me as a teacher is that I will need to pay even closer attention to connecting learning to students’ lives and to the real world (Partnership for 21st Century Skills). Also, I can look forward to professional development on how to integrate these skills into my classroom rather than just being handed the curriculum to implement (Partnership for 21st Century Skills). I look forward to collaborating with members of my school community, organizations within the community, other educators in the community and parents in order to see this concept to fruition (Partnership for 21st Century Skills).
The implications for students are that they are finally going to be tested on what they are being taught rather being taught what they are being tested on (Partnership for 21st Century Skills). They are going to experience learning that they need in order to be successful in their futures.
http://www.21stcenturyskills.org
Partnership for the 21st Century Skills. (n.d.). A report and mile guide for 21st century skills. Washington DC: Author. Retrieved from http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/images/stories/otherdocs/p21up_Report.pdf
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